


Werewolves & Wolf Shifters

by kierathefangirl



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, BTT bromance, Fluff, Gen, Human(ish) AU, M/M, Multi, PruCan?, Prumano bromance, Shapeshifting AU, USUK?, Werewolf AU, gerita - Freeform, spamano - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 03:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15015800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kierathefangirl/pseuds/kierathefangirl
Summary: A tale where things aren't always as they seem. Set in a suburban town with a Wolf Forest, this is where Lovi and Toni first meet. In a meeting full of tension and high-stakes fighting, the two grow closer. Stakes grow ever higher, big brother Sebastian is called, Feli is crying when the truth arrives at his tiny paws, and Lovi is caught in a web of wolves, hunters, and deceit in the most dangerous forms. The questions grow as time goes on and Lovi's life is turned on a perilous ear. Will Lovi and Toni make it out of everything together, and alive?





	1. Wolf Forest

**Author's Note:**

> Angsty, lots of trigger warnings. Backstories involve major abuse (physical, sexual, neglect, etc.), self-harm, suicide attempts, lots of bad stuff. They're angsty teens.
> 
> First person limited POV. Perspectives identified by chapter, as they're constantly changing.
> 
> Originally inspired by Little Red Riding Hood by Amanda Seyfriend. Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=963iCYoONF0

**_~Lovi~_ **

I twirl the blood-encrusted red-handled pocket knife in my faded black jacket pocket and continue deeper into the supposedly dangerous ‘ _ Wolf Forest _ ’. I’ve been told werewolves live here, and yet I come every evening to hide the pain and the knife from my brothers and all I’ve found is an old abandoned one-room log cabin in the middle of an empty forest, full of abandoned kitchen supplies.

I release a slow breath, kicking at a stray pebble in my path. If it weren’t for Feli and Sebastian, I would’ve wiped myself from this cruel universe ages ago. They would of course tell me this is fate and that I’m not meant to die, that some God who supposedly hates me for being transgender and gay wants me to suffer through life this way.

I shift my eyes to a new spot in the dirt path and breathe. Just a little further to the cabin, then I’ll take out the knife. Just a little further.

For the first time in the three months I’ve been coming here, a teenage boy steps from the forest off the side of the path. Someone else here. Another lost soul?

The boy moves in my way. “Hey, wait.”

I come to a stop, hovering my left foot uncertainly in the air before slowly lowering it to the ground.

The boy glances around nervously. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.”

I shift a little.  _ Like me cutting myself isn’t dangerous. One slip, one cut too deep, and I could be free. _

I glance up at him; he seems to expect a response. I glance around, hesitate, then mutter, “So I’ve heard.”

He blinks a little in surprise. “But y—”

He stops mid-word and frowns at me. “Go. Get out of here.”

I don’t move. The boy sighs and holds out a hand. “I’m Toni.”

I flinch out of habit, but I reach out hesitantly and let him touch my hand. “Lovino.”

I pull back pretty quickly. Touch, in my experience, will always lead to pain and suffering. This kid could be no different.

_ Or he could be the first to really treat you like a human being,  _ a tiny voice in the back of my head whispers. I tell it to shut up, because hoping is futile.

I drop my eyes again. The boy is attractive. He’s probably about eighteen, maybe older. The youngest he could be is sixteen. I’m not sure. Either way the boy is older than I am; I’ve only suffered through fifteen long and horrendous years.

The boy steps closer to me. He’s tan and toned, and probably Spanish going by his slight lilting accent.

The boy is tall. He’s probably about six feet tall. He towers over my measly four-foot-eleven.

The boy reaches out a gentle and slow hand, like he’s approaching a rabid fighting-ring dog. “You should go,” he says, and he even sounds a little regretful as he says it. “Before you get hurt.”

I tug a little on my sleeves, the dark cloth that conceals the angry scars. I glance around. I shake my head. “Wolves don’t scare me. Nothing really does.”

My voice sounds empty, even to me. But I don’t know how to fix it; I’m broken.

Toni’s hand falls. He looks unsure of himself, and he rocks back and forth on his feet. “They’ll hurt you.”

“Let them.”

That gets to him. Toni recoils a little, his eyes widen, and his jaw hits the dirt.

He blinks a few times rapidly, glances around, shakes his head a little, and looks at me with a new light in his eyes. “You’re alone. Aren’t you.”

It’s not even a question, but I nod slightly. Toni reaches out and grabs my wrist in a gentle cuff, then uses his left hand to take my chin and tip my head up. There’s a seriousness about him that wasn’t there before, and that same softness shines in his eyes. I shift my eyes away, but I don’t fight the touch. Maybe he  _ will  _ be different. Maybe he won’t try to hurt me. But maybes are hopes, and hopes are futile.

“Lovi,” he says. His voice is more insistent and breathless now. “For God’s sake, man, this  _ isn’t _ what you want. You have to understand—their alpha, he’s killed people. He killed a five year old and a three year old because he thought they threatened him and his power.”

_ He’s already given me a nickname? Gross.  _ I scoff a little. “Lucky bastards got out easy. I had to suffer through fifteen years just to look out for my little brother and they get out right away.”

Again, he looks upset and startled. His voice softens but grows more urgent. “Lovi. This is my father we’re talking about. He won’t let you out alive.”

“What if I don’t want to survive?”

Toni almost starts crying. His grip on my wrist tightens. “Lovi.”

I shift my eyes back to his. Tears film his eyes now, and his eyes glow an icy blue. They were emerald green just a second ago. “Please, Lovi,” he says, and now he’s just begging. “Por favor.”

I tilt my head a little. So he  _ is _ Spanish. “Your eyes changed colors.”

He chokes a weak laugh. “They do that sometimes. Don’t change the subject.”

It hits me.

No, literally. I’m tackled to the ground by something huge and furry. All I see is a rush of black fur and I’m on the ground.

“Dad,” Toni protests weakly, and now he’s really crying.

_ Oh.  _ It hits me metaphorically now: Toni’s a werewolf; a shifter or whatever. But he’s not a bad person like most of the hunters tell us werewolves are. He was trying to save my life. It’s such a shame he tried to save the suicidal kid and not someone who would’ve listened.

Teeth dig into my neck and my heart immediately begins to slow as the major artery splits open. The wolf begins to drink, and I mean  _ he starts drinking my blood  _ like a freaking vampire or something.

I only struggle for a second or two. It’s not like I really care if I die, let alone the fact that my strength—which is already too little to defend myself from anyone or anything—is waning.

My head is spinning like I’m underwater, and my skin is burning. But just as the wolf goes to take another gulp, something heavy slams into it and knocks it off of me.

A fluffy black pup stands between me and the big wolf now, and he snarls at the big wolf. His teeth are bared, and he takes a step backwards in my direction and barks a couple times. The big wolf licks the blood from his teeth and tries to lunge for me again, but the pup grabs him and shoves him back. And then, I could’ve sworn the pup barked a ‘ _ no _ ’.

The big wolf backs up a step and bares his teeth. The pup flattens his ears and drops his tail down by his legs and his eyes flash that icy blue, but his fur is fluffed and he still stands defensively between me and the wolf. He’s not challenging the big wolf’s ruby-red-eyed authority, just his attack on me.

The big wolf scoffs, flicks his ear, snarls, and trots off.

I breathe in slowly. My voice trembles, and I can feel myself slipping.

The pup’s fur falls flat and he turns to me and whines. He trots over and licks at the wound on my neck a few times desperately, then drops his head and releases a low, pained howl. He bites his foreleg open, then fur melts to skin and a breathless Toni kneels in front of me. His arm is bleeding.  _ So I was right. _

Toni pulls me a little closer and makes sure I’m lying flat on my back, then sits down and moves the bitten arm over my mouth. Black blood begins to drip onto my tongue, and he shuts his eyes, breathes, and lowers his arm until the bite touches my lips. He doesn’t look very happy or very sure of himself, but my parched throat gladly accepts the inky substance.

After a minute or so, he pulls back. The wound on his arm heals just like that, and he rubs the excess blood off on his jeans.

For a minute, nothing changes. Then my body starts to fight, to cough and choke and heave. This painful heaving continues for an eternity, but finally my head stops spinning and the holes in my neck just itch their way shut like magic.

I cough a few times and roll onto my side, but I lack the strength to get to my feet. Then in a flash, mid-blink, my body shrinks to that of a fuzzy black wolf pup. I yelp in surprise and tumble to my feet, staring wide-eyed at the sudden fur and tiny paws.

Toni shifts back to that fuzzy wolf pup form, and he looks a little dizzy. He takes an uncertain step in my direction and releases a relieved breath. “Thank God it worked.”

I lick at the fur. It’s real, and the consistency is strange on my tongue. What on Earth—?

I shake my head a few times and look up. Toni is still bigger than me, but not by near as much. He’s only a couple pounds heavier, and an inch or two bigger. So maybe he  _ is _ still sixteen or seventeen.

Toni drops his eyes and wags his tail low to the ground. I sniff tentatively at the air; I can smell fear. Fear, and maybe…is that hope? What is that smell?

I taste the air; it tastes bitter, like sweat and tears and—and fear?

I lift my ears; I can hear sirens somewhere, and I can hear Toni’s panting and the low whine he’s making. There’s also some distant howling.

I shake my head a little. “What the hell?”

I can hear my own voice, clear as day. I can understand myself, too.

Toni peeks up at me and shuffles his paws. He still looks unsure, even more so now than he was before. “The only way to stop you from dying—at least when it’s an alpha like that—is to turn you.”

He hesitates and wags his tail low to the ground. “I’m sorry.”

Oh.  _ Oh.  _ Oh my god.

I shake my head a little and flick one of my ears. I wag my tail uncertainly. I lift a paw and take a wavery step, but my body is still leaden and hits the ground. “Ow.”

Toni trots tentatively forward and grabs my scruff, dragging me to my feet. “You’re gonna be really dizzy for the first hour or so. And you can’t turn back until the hour is over.”

“How do you know that?”

Toni shrugs his furry little shoulders. “My dad turned me when I was ten.”

“Oh.”

“Wolves like us, we’re not born. Movie-style, crazy werewolves can be born  _ or  _ bitten.” Toni lifts his eyes to glance over his shoulder. “But the shifter wolves are different. We turn full wolf, and you have to be nearly killed by an alpha to be turned.

“We’re shifter wolves. Most of the movie wolves blend into society in big cities like New York, then strike at the full moon. We turn whenever we want and we’re still in control of ourselves. The problem is you have to be very careful now, because if you get really emotional, your eyes will flash your wolf color.”

“What?”

He shrugs. “Ice blue is my wolf color. It means I’m a true beta. I could rank higher or lower, but where I’m most comfortable is below the alpha giving the kids instructions. Honey brown is the omega color—they’re below me. The bottom-feeders don’t really get a color. True alpha color is honey gold. True alphas are stronger than regular alphas. Dad won his way to where he is by killing a dozen people; his eyes are blood-red. I haven’t killed anybody, so my eyes are still blue. Unless I’m human, then they’re green.”

“Oh.”

I shake my head a bit and paw at the ground. “Can shifters mingle with society?”

“There’s a lot of hunters even for us so it’s dangerous,” Toni says. “But it’s easier for a shifter than a were.”

I glance back over my shoulder. “I have an older brother. And a little brother. I have to look after them.”

“You can,” he says. “Just don’t touch silver, and try not to touch too many plants. It burns.”

“Seb gave me a talisman that’s supposed to protect me,” I tell him. “Unless I take it off I should be fine.”

“Also you may have noticed you heal crazy fast,” he points out, nodding to my neck. “It’ll itch a bit but it’ll heal and disappear in minutes rather than days to years. The longer it takes a normal human, the longer it takes for us. But broken bones—which take up to six months—only take us a couple days.”

I blink a bit.  _ So the cuts will heal. Interesting. _

He lifts his head a little. He seems to have gained some confidence now. His tail lifts a bit, too, and he wags it more than he did before.

I wag my tail uncertainly in return. “I’m stuck like this?”

“For an hour, yeah,” he says. He wags his tail shyly. “Kinda helps you get used to it but it’s disorienting.”

I take a step. I don’t fall this time, but I do wobble a little on my paws. “Dizzy.”

He shrugs it off. “You will be. We all are the first little bit. It’ll fade.”

The big wolf trots back down the path and growls a little. “Antonio. I told you—”

“I don’t care,” Toni snaps, and he turns back to the big wolf. “He was  _ nice  _ to me. And he didn’t scream, and he didn’t run away. And I think he’s depressed, if not suicidal. I want to help him.”

I blink a bit and trot up to Toni’s side. I make sure my fur lies flat, and I lower my head and tail. I wag my tail low to the ground like Toni did: non-threatening is the idea. “My name is Lovino. I’ve been coming here for months.”

“For  _ what _ , exactly?” the wolf demands of me.

I flinch back. My ears fall flat on my head. Toni glances at me. “I think…I think he comes here to cut. He said he has an older brother and a little brother to take care of, or he would’ve already killed himself.”

I don’t deny it, but I don’t confirm it either. Confirming it means I have a problem, but to deny it would be to lie. And that seems to be a bad idea with this guy. I won’t lie.

I wag my tail a little. The wolf turns narrowed eyes on me. “Well?”

I shift a little. “I…won’t say he’s wrong.”

Toni’s tail falls and stops wagging. “Wait, seriously?”

I shift my eyes away from them. “I didn’t say you’re right, either.”

“But you’re not denying it,” Toni points out.

I shuffle my paws a little. “No, I’m not.”

Toni drops his tail over my shoulders. “Please, Dad. Per favore. Papá. Deja que se quede. He’s not going to hurt us.” (( _ Please. Dad. Let him stay. _ ))

“I’ll be the judge of that,” the big wolf snaps. I flinch back, edging a little closer to Toni. For the first time in my life, I have a feeling someone is actually going to look out for me—other than Sebastian, obviously, but he’s miles and miles and many hours away in the big city being a fantastic lawyer and I won’t bother him with my problems.

“Per favore,” I say quietly, “for my brothers if nothing else…”

I don’t finish the sentence. He knows what I mean.

He flicks his ear. “Fine. But stay out of my way.”

He trots off. I lift my ears and listen to him go, then lift my tail a little and wag it half-heartedly. “I didn’t expect that to work.”

Toni relaxes and breathes. “Thank God. I didn’t expect him to listen.”

I drop my eyes to the ground. “I don’t wanna be a burden.”

Toni wags his tail. “You’re not.”

He turns towards me. I back up a step shyly and wag my tail low to the ground. I can better express myself in this form than in my human form; it’s more obvious what I’m trying to say. My body almost moves for me, expressing that which my human form never could.

Toni tilts his head and cocks his ears. “I’m not gonna hurt you. No one is.”

I cough a little. “That’s not true.”

“What?” he asks, startled.

I glance down the path. “Hayden will. Most people hate me. Most people want me dead. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t, other than my brothers.”

“Who’s Hayden?”

“Hayden Fisher. He’s a jock from school. He doesn’t like me.”

Toni cocks his ears and sits down, wrapping his tail around his legs. “Tell me about him.”

I whine a little. “He said he’d hurt my little brother Feli if—”

“He won’t,” Toni stops me. “I promise. Just tell me.”

I whine again. Toni reaches out and licks at my ear. “Please.”

I fold myself down on the ground and drop my head on my paws in defeat. I’m stuck here anyway; what harm can it do to tell him the truth?

I sigh and shut my eyes. “Seven years ago, my brothers and I moved here from Italy and our oldest brother Sebastian got custody of Feli and I—he was eighteen at the time. Feli was six and I was eight. Our family is homophobic and transphobic, and Seb and Feli were bi and Feli was transgender, and it was too dangerous to stay. I mean, they still are, but it’s safer for them here than it’ll ever be there.”

Toni nods. I breathe in slowly, hold it for a moment, then release it. I flick my tail. “I made friends immediately, the best of which—to my surprise—was a jock: Hayden. He was nice to me, and he thought Italy was a cool place to come from. We hung out almost every day. He came over to my house a lot, and I went to his a couple times. But after two weeks, he finally asked why we’d left Italy. So I told him the truth: I’m transgender and gay, Feli is transgender, and my brothers are bi. That was the end of it.”

I flick my ear dismissively. “He disappeared for a week. The next time I saw him, he dragged me off after school and beat me up. I haven’t talked to anyone since.”

Toni whines. I lift my head from my paws and open my eyes, but I keep them on the dirt before me. “He never stopped. It’s been seven years and he’s still doing it. I can’t go anywhere anymore. I’m scared to tell Sebastian—our older brother—because he said he’d hurt Feli if I told, and he’d kill him if it was Sebastian. I want my brother, I want out, but I don’t know how.”

I shift my eyes over my shoulder. “Two years ago, he got worse.”

Toni lowers his head a little. I return my eyes to the dirt. “I can’t say the word, but you can probably figure it out. Four letters, it’s illegal, it’s also referenced using two separate words. It’s kinda physical but also kinda not.”

“Rape,” Toni answers blankly.

I nod. Toni whines again, higher pitched this time. I drop my head again. “He still does that. And he still beats me up. And anyone that stands up to him gets the same treatment. And basically everybody else hates me. My brothers don’t, but I’m too scared to say anything to them.”

I shut my eyes. “It’s not like he’s any different from my family. My aunt threw me into walls, my grandfather hit me around, and the one time my other grandpa stood up to my grandfather he hit him too. My uncle did the other thing. I’m used to this.”

Toni licks my ear a couple times. I peek up at him; he looks like he’s crying. “He’s not going to anymore,” he says stubbornly.

I push myself to my feet and look away. “Everybody that stands up to him gets hurt. And he’ll hurt Feli.”

Toni shakes his head. “He won’t. I only need one thing: my mom.”

He glances over his shoulder. “Dad led her into a hunter’s trap seven years ago because she didn’t want me turned yet. She said I was too young, that he should wait until I was eighteen; he wanted to do it right away. He denies that he did it and often pins it on me. No one’s ever been bold enough to try and find the hunter’s lair before, wherever they take the ones they capture. I want to try.”

I wag my tail. “I know a couple hunters. Let me try.”

“I can’t ask you to—”

“I never said you asked.” I lower my head and wag my tail low to the ground. “You’re the first person I’ve ever met that treats me like a fucking  _ person _ . Like a human being. Like I matter. Seriously, it’s okay. I’ll take care of it. I can probably track them by scent; I know where a few of them live.”

Toni flinches and drops his eyes. “She’s  _ my  _ mom.”

I flick my tail. “If she’s anything like you, she’s mine too.”

He sort of smiles, and he wags his tail. He looks happy. “What?”

I take a step forward and nuzzle against him, licking at one of his ears. “I don’t make friends easy. I haven’t in seven years. No one ever gives me a chance. Just stay here and stay safe.”

“It’s dangerous,” he protests.

“And it’s less dangerous if you go?” I shoot back. “I’m the one who doesn’t care about dying. You have a lot of things to live for; I don’t. I’ll go.”

He lowers his head. “Okay.”

I lick at his ear a couple times. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“You, too.”

I nuzzle him a little, then trot off down the path.  _ Now to save his mom…and maybe my sanity. _


	2. Mamá Sofía

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lovi finds Toni's mom...and gets more than he bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Graphic depictions of violence, used for the sake of plot (not just for violence).
> 
> Lovi's perspective. Listening to Toxic Thoughts. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG3BLxA3vjU)

I finally find where the smell is strongest, and fresh. I use my nose to nudge the huge metal door to the side and slide into the warehouse, and cast a look around.

A horrendous sight meets my eyes. Movie werewolves strapped down and cut open, hunters working over their limp bodies. Shifter wolves strapped to tables and sedated. A giant white wolf lays limply on the far end, and she smells just like that scent on the cloth Toni had in his pocket that he didn’t mention.

I crawl cautiously into the dangerous space. I don’t want to fight, I just want to save them.

The hunters finally stitch up the movie werewolf, pick up whatever results they got, and leave. I sniff around cautiously, but they don’t guard this place. They’re overconfident that no one could find this old abandoned warehouse in the middle of a sparse evergreen forest.

I slip out into the open and sniff at the shifters. Three of the smaller ones smell familiar, sort of like Toni but not. Maybe they’re related.

I peek at the door, then leap up onto one of the tables. I whine and nudge the wolf there, the big fuzzy black one that smells a bit like Toni.

The wolf growls a little. I whine again. “Please wake up. I need your help.”

The wolf struggles a little. My eyes are drawn to a dart stuck in his side, and the chains holding him down. I crawl over and get a solid grip, then pull the dart out with my teeth and throw it on the ground.

The wolf’s eyes open. His eyes are ice blue, and he now begins to fight a little more.

I take hold of the end of the chain and pull. But I can’t get it in this form.

I glance at the door again, then leap down and shift back. I take the chain in trembling fingers and pull; it comes loose in my hands and falls limp, and the wolf leaps down.

I back up a step and shift down again. The wolf eyes me warily. “How’d you get in here?”

I wag my tail low to the ground. “I tracked the cloth scent. They don’t look for little wolves.”

The wolf steps forward and sniffs at me. “You smell like my brother.”

I blink at him blankly. He snorts. “Toni.”

I blink a couple times and tilt my head. My ears lift. I was right; they  _ are _ related. “He’s being nice to me. Most people aren’t.”

I wag my tail low to the ground and drop into a little puppy bow. “My name is Lovino. Your dad just tried to kill me and Toni wants your mom back.”

I nod to the big white wolf. “Her.”

He turns and yelps. “Mom!”

I lower my eyes again, but I rise back to all fours. “I want to get everybody out of here. All the shifters. But I’m just a kid. I can’t get them all out in time.”

I jerk my head. “They’re gonna come back.”

He nods and shifts to a tall, tan human. He looks kinda like Toni. I shift back, too.

He looks me over once suspiciously. “Why should I trust you?”

“Don’t,” I shrug. “It doesn’t matter to me whether or not you trust me. I’m here because Toni actually treats me like a person and he wants his mom back. I don’t care what anybody thinks about me.”

He blinks a couple times, then his tense posture eases. “Fine.”

He moves over and unchains the other two that smell like Toni, and pulls the darts out. The wolves slide to the floor and shift up to tall men, and all of them have  _ got _ to be adults. They’re at least six-foot-four or something. I feel so small here, and I’m five-foot-ten.

I move over and unchain the little pup, then pull the dart out. I catch him as he slides to the floor, and he shifts back to a three-year-old boy. He coughs and shakes his head, then his eyes blink open. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

I rise to my feet and move over to the tall men. “He’s just a kid.”

The shortest of the three picks the kid up off of me and snuggles him. “Emmanuel.”

The boy throws his arms around the boy. “Jesús!”

So his name is Jesús, I guess. That’s good to know.

I glance around. The only shifter left is the triple-chained, quadruple-sedated big white wolf.

I move hesitantly over to her and pull out the darts. Then I grab one of the chains and pull. But I’m not strong enough to break them, as I figured. They’re made to hold a huge wolf.

I turn to the brothers. I don’t know exactly what to say, but the taller two come over and grab hold of the chain. We yank together, once, twice, thrice, and finally it breaks. The chain slides off.

We repeat the process for the other two chains. The big wolf slides to the floor, flops down, then blinks her eyes open. She shakes her head, snorts, and shifts into the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. I can see where Toni gets his good looks, because it’s not from his father.

“When did you boys get here?” the woman asks. Her voice is as beautiful as her body.

I shake myself a little, shift, and back up a couple steps. The brothers turn to me. “How long—?”

“Toni told me she’d been in here seven years,” I tell them quietly. “He’s seventeen.”

The woman blinks a few times. So do the brothers.

The shorter of the tall brothers turns to the woman. “So about five years, then.”

The woman turns to me. “Who’s this?”

“Apparently his name is Lovino,” the tallest brother tells her. “He said Toni was nice to him.”

Jesús moves closer with the small boy. “I’ve only been here a couple weeks. Emmanuel wanted to leave because he’s bi and they were gonna throw him out.”

The woman moves past the boys and shifts smoothly to wolf form. I shift down and backpedal a few steps, keeping my eyes and tail low. This woman is huge; she’s like fifty of me. And that’s  _ all _ muscle.

I wag my tail low to the ground and whine a little. The other wolves shift as well. The woman shrugs, then trots forward and just plucks me off the floor by my scruff. “Let’s go.”

My body naturally curls into a little ball, and I squeeze my eyes shut.  _ Don’t throw me. Don’t drop me. Don’t throw me. Don’t drop me. …Please? _

The woman flicks her ear, then pauses outside. “Where do we go?”

The biggest black wolf turns and nods to me. “He found his way here.”

She drops me. I tumble up to my feet, breathe, and begin to weave a path out. The wolves fall into step behind me, and the smaller black wolf scoops up the stumbling pup and trots to catch up.

I finally break through and back out onto the street. The woman looks around and nods. “The city.”

I trot my way through the streets, flicking an ear. “Toni is this way.”

They fall into step behind me like ducklings in a pond, despite the fact that I’m the smallest. I sniff at the air, then redirect our path to avoid the hunters.

“Why the hell is the kid leading us?” the wolf carrying the pup questions.

“Jesús,” the bigger black one protests, “he knows where he’s going. Back off.”

“He’s a true alpha, his eyes are gold,” the middle one says.

“That too,” the big one agrees.

I blink a bit.  _ Oh. _

I turn up into the park and bark a few times, then howl a call. “ _ Toni! _ ”

I continue up the path. The wolves follow.

Toni comes trotting up the path once we’re deep enough into the forest. I bound forward up to him, falling back to his right flank. “They didn’t just have your mom. But I got her too.”

The two big black wolves reach Toni and begin to circle him. “He got bigger,” one of them says.

“He got turned,” says another.

“He’s handsome,” laughs the other.

“Our handsome little boy,” the other agrees.

Toni blinks a few times and wags his tail. “Hermano mayor,” he breathes.

The big white wolf trots around the corner with the smaller black one in tow by his scruff. He’s fighting a little now; he doesn’t seem to want to face Toni.

Finally the white wolf comes to a stop and lets go. The small black wolf sets the pup down, but his ears go flat and his eyes fall.

Toni turns. The other brothers fall back and open a path to the smaller one and his mother.

Toni hesitates a moment, sniffs tentatively at the black wolf, then leaps at the white one. “Mamá!”

The white wolf catches him and wraps herself around him, and she licks incessantly at his ear. “I told him it was too soon, I told him—”

“I know,” Toni agrees shyly. “I heard Dad yelling. He blamed the whole thing on me. It’s okay.”

Toni glances over his shoulder. “He broke the rule so he changed it.”

“What?”

Toni lowers his tail, and it stops wagging. “He killed six people. And two of them were kids; a five year old and a three year old. They were true alphas and he thought they were competition. He wouldn’t let anybody save them, either. He just kept circling them and nipping until they died.”

The white wolf growls. Toni wags his tail low to the ground. “I’m not strong enough or bold enough to stop him. He nearly killed me the last time I tried. I can’t do it alone.”

I sit down and wrap my tail elegantly around my paws. Toni glances at me. “I can’t ask him to help. He’s already been through hell time and time again. And Dad already tried to kill him.”

“He’s a true alpha,” the white wolf tells him. “Chances are he’ll try again. He may be forced to fight.”

I sniff at the air. Toni’s dad is coming back, and he smells of anger. I whine and get to my feet, and I back slowly away. Toni turns and says knowingly, “Dad.”

The white wolf lifts her head. “Where?”

Toni hesitates, then moves up a couple steps and nudges the black wolf there with his nose. “Jesús?”

Jesús looks away. Toni licks at his ear and whines. Jesús sighs and glances at Toni. Toni whines again.

Jesús just melts. His tension evaporates, and he reaches over and licks Toni’s ear very lightly and quickly. I wonder what happened between the two of them to cause the tension, but I’m not bold enough to ask. “I missed you.”

Toni wags his tail furiously, then lunges forward and covers Jesús with kisses.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jesús grumbles, but he licks Toni back tentatively. “I love you, too, asshole.”

Toni snuggles a little with Jesús. “Dad told me—”

“Dad isn’t going to hurt you,” Jesús snaps, cutting Toni off. “He’s made you suffer enough.”

Toni flinches, but he wags his tail. The middle black wolf trots over and licks at Toni’s ear. “I don’t think  _ any _ of us are going to let that happen.”

“Andrés!” Toni protests, but he’s laughing these little puppy barks.  _ Andrés? _

The biggest black wolf moves closer and licks Toni a couple times. “Hermanito, you know we’d never let that happen. Trust us.”

Toni wags his tail and licks the big wolf’s shoulder, because that’s the highest he can reach even on his hind legs. “Matías, I don’t think you should get inv—”

_ So it’s Jesús, Andrés, and Matías? _

Matías shakes his head and cuts Toni off. “Don’t. You’ve suffered enough.”

Toni’s dad rounds the corner. I whine a little and turn to Toni. “Toni.”

Toni pushes his way forward and wags his tail happily. “I found Mom. And my brothers.”

Toni’s dad doesn’t look happy, like one would expect of a married man seeing his wife and sons again. Instead, he snorts and flicks his ear. “I see.”

Toni’s dad glares at me. “Your eyes.”

“They’re gold,” I finish. “I heard. I don’t know exactly what that means or why.”

He lunges at me. Toni lunges in his way, and they crash into each other.

Toni yelps as his dad’s teeth dig into his neck, and he kicks and pushes at him, then gasps for help: “ _ Matí, per favor, do something. _ ”

“Leave my brother alone,” the big black one snarls, and he lunges forward and grabs Toni’s dad by his scruff. He yanks him off, and he shoves him back to snarl at him. He paces in front of Toni, fluffs himself up, and bares his teeth. “He’s mine.”

“I have custody of him,” Toni’s dad snaps. “I can call kidnapping on you.”

Toni whines. I hesitate, watch Toni twitch, glance back at the white wolf, then pad softly forward. I move between Matías and his father, and I fluff myself up, lift my ears and tail, and snarl like I mean it. “Leave him  _ alone _ .”

Silence. The brothers are so surprised they don’t react immediately, and Toni’s dad is so startled that he doesn’t answer for several minutes.

I bare my teeth and growl at him. Toni’s dad snarls back and fluffs himself up, stalking a couple steps closer in an attempt to scare me off. I glance back at Toni, gather my courage, and take a step forward. I growl again.

Toni whines a little in protest. “Lovi, you’ll get hurt.”

I glance back at him. “I don’t care. You know this.”

I pad forward a step and growl again. “You may have legal custody of him now, but don’t take that for granted. My big brother is a lawyer and I can call him and get them to have custody of him instead.”

I flick my ears to the brothers, and lift a paw to gesture to his mother. “They deserve him more than you do. You take advantage of him and you don’t appreciate him. You’re abusive and cruel and Toni has already suffered more than enough. He treats me like a person, like I  _ matter _ . Nobody else does. So either you back the fuck off, or I swear to the ninth  _ fucking _ Hell I will fight you.”

Toni drags himself to his feet and stumbles his way over to the white wolf. He whines a little, and she licks at his neck several times. There’s a bright flash, and Toni is steady on his feet again.  _ So she’s…a healer? A cleric, of sorts? _

Toni’s dad snarls again. “Those kinds of accusations won’t hold up in a legal court, small fry.”

“They don’t have to,” I shrug. “My brother can find dirt on you. He can find dirt on anybody.”

Toni wags his tail low to the ground. “Lovi.”

I take another step and address the father, ignoring my friend’s protest for now. “Go. Before this escalates any more than it has to.”

He leaps at me. This time I’m ready for him, and I dig my claws and teeth deep into his skin and fur.

He shakes me off. I hit a tree, then thump to the ground.  _ Ow. Fuck. I guess we’re fighting then. _

I’m dizzy, but I get back up. I move back forward, shake my head so everything will stop spinning, and snarl.

He leaps at me again. This time his teeth sink deep into my neck, and he starts to drink again. I whine a little, but I shove hard. He doesn’t budge, so I did my claws in and shove again.

This time, I win. I break free, and my teeth sink deep into his shoulder and yank. He howls in pain, then snarls and bites back. I drop to the ground and prance a few steps away, panting.

This is a test of wills. If I win, I win and he leaves. If I lose, I die. I don’t have much of a choice here: Toni wants me alive, for God knows what reason.

He snarls at me, bares his teeth, and crouches to leap again. I decide to pull a surprise attack on him, and I leap first. I knock him to the ground, on his side. I dig my teeth and claws into his side, and I hold him there until he stops squirming and starts to whine.

I let go and spring back. He drags himself to his feet, and now he’s soaked in blood.

I spit blood on the ground, shaking my head a little and trying not to throw up. I can’t show him any weakness, or he’ll take it and use it against me.

He leaps again and digs into my neck. This time he bites harder, and it takes until I’m about to pass out before I break free. But despite the spinning of my head, I leap up and grab hold of his neck. I don’t hold deep, just enough for him to freeze.

I scramble up so I’m standing on his back. “Y’know, I could kill you. I have every right. You’ve tried time and again to kill me, and you’ve tried to kill the only person who treated me like a fucking person and not a worthless piece of shit.”

He whines a little. I leap to the ground and let go. “But I won’t, because that would make me no better than you—and I refuse to be like you. So go, and don’t challenge me again.”

His eyes fade to ice blue, he whines, and he takes off sprinting up the path.

The moment he’s gone, my body relaxes. But my body also hits the ground like a dropped sack of potatoes, and I whine a little. “Ow.”

Toni comes running the moment his dad is gone, and he licks desperately at my neck. “Mom.”

The big white wolf trots over, and she lays a single paw over me. There’s a blinding flash, and I feel fine again. All the cuts are gone, my ear is no longer hanging on by a thread, and I’m not dizzy.

I drag myself to my feet and whine a little. Toni licks at my ear a couple times. “Y-you didn’t have to—Lovi, you  _ shouldn’t _ have!”

“He shouldn’t’ve hurt you,” I challenge, but the firmness from the fight is gone.

Toni whines. I reach out and lick his ear, then sit on my unsteady paws.

The big black wolf moves around to my side, and he nudges me. I wobble a little, but that doesn’t seem his main concern. “You didn’t have to do that. I had that.”

I flick my ear. “He shouldn’t’ve bit Toni, let alone threatened legal action. That’s my turf, thanks to my brother. He tries anything, I just have to call.”

He licks at my ear a couple times. “I like you.”

I blink a bit and look up. “What?”

He flicks his ear. “I like you.”

Toni licks at my ear. “I told you. Just because you find a few rotten apples— _ really _ rotten apples—doesn’t mean the whole barrel’s rotten. Speaking of which.”

Toni turns to his mom. “I need your help. With him.”

He flicks his ear towards me. “There’s a kid that’s been beating him up for the last seven years and raping him the last two because he’s transgender and gay. His name’s Hayden Fisher. He was Lovi’s friend for two weeks, then he found out why he left Italy.”

“You’re from Italy?” Jesús asks.

I flick a dismissive ear. “I left everybody behind except for my brothers—everyone, including my parents. My grandfather hit me, and when Grandpa Roma stood up to him he got hit. My aunt threw me into walls. My uncle did the other thing several times. I’m used to this.”

Matías’ eyes widen. Toni nods. “He told me the same thing. Hayden told Lovi he would kill his little brother Feli if he told, so we need to protect Feli and we need to stop Hayden.”

“Absolutely,” the white wolf agrees smoothly.

“Done,” Matías says firmly.

“Certainly,” Andrés agrees. “Enough is enough.”

Toni wags his tail. “I knew I could count on you.”

Jesús gets to his feet. “Where’s this asshole?”

Toni wags his tail harder, then turns to me. “Lovi?”

I lower my head. Matías licks at my ear. “Where’s Feli?”

I wag my tail a little, then turn and head off down the path.


	3. You Look Upset, Lovi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to take on Hayden! ...After we protect Feli first, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Violence & panic attack. Also angst.

**_~Lovi~_ **

Feli slides outside. “What’s wrong, Lovi? You look upset.”

I take his hand and pull him down into the alley. I breathe, glance around, then turn to him. “There’s something I haven’t been telling you or Sebastian that I should because I’m too scared. He said he would hurt you if I told.”

Feli’s eyes widen. “What?”

I drop my eyes. “Hayden. Remember him?”

“Yeah. He disappeared.”

“Only for a week.”

Feli blinks. I shift my eyes away. “He only disappeared for a week. Then he started beating me up. Seven years he’s been doing it. I slipped to someone, and he wants to stop them. But you have to understand.”

Feli breathes slowly. I lift my eyes back to his. “They’re werewolves, shifter wolves; whatever you wanna call it. But they’ve treated me far kinder than any stupid human ever has.”

The dart hits Feli’s neck. Now that he understands, I need to turn him. It’ll keep him safer, but I won’t do it when he’s awake because I don’t want to scare him.

Feli sinks down. “L-Lovi, what—?”

I wrap my arms around him and help him down slowly, then kneel next to him. “It’s okay. Just breathe. I’ll be right here with you when you wake up.”

Feli goes limp in my arms. I breathe, then lift him up and bite down gently. I wait until he starts to get a little cold, then I pull back and bite my arm open. I drop the bite into his mouth.

Feli starts to wake up a little. He swallows a few times, then I pull back and let my arm heal.

I tug my sleeve back down. He coughs, he heaves, but finally—after an eternity of painful silence—his body turns into a tiny white puppy.

I shift down and grab his scruff, then I carry him into the park, up near Toni and his family.

I set him down. Feli comes to and leaps to his feet, only to sway a little and stare at his paws. “What—”

“Shhh,” I hush him.

Feli looks up and blinks a few times. “Lovi?”

“It’s okay,” I tell him. I lick his ear a few times. “I know this doesn’t make sense right now, but I’m trying to protect you. Hayden’s nearly killed me, he’s put me in the hospital, and I am  _ not _ risking him hurting you. Follow me. Just…don’t run. I know she’s big and intimidating, but…she won’t hurt you.”

He falls into step with me, and his eyes settle into a bright icy blue.  _ Figures. _

We round the corner to Toni. I bark once. “Toni.”

Toni turns and trots over. “So this is Feli.”

Feli wags his tail uncertainly. “Lovi, what’s going on?”

I nod. “This is Toni. He’s my friend.”

Feli’s eyes widen: he understands the full gravity of that statement. I flick my ear. “He saved my life. I saved his. Now he wants to stop Hayden. But to do that, we have to keep you safe because Hayden  _ will _ try to kill you.”

Feli shivers. Toni licks his ear reassuringly. “Our job is to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Toni turns towards his mom. “Her job is to stop him. She’s a cop.”

The big white wolf gracefully disengages herself from the boys and trots over. “So this is your precious little brother. He’s cute.”

Feli yelps in surprise and leaps back. I step back to his side and lick at his ear. “She won’t hurt you. That’s Toni’s mom. She’s nice.”

Feli shudders and leans into me. “Lovi, what have you gotten me into?”

“You’d be surprised,” I shrug. “Wolves are actually some of the kindest people I’ve ever met.”

Toni takes a tentative step forward and licks Feli’s ear again in attempted reassurance. “It’s okay. We won’t hurt you.”

Matías trots over and bows in Feli’s direction. “I’m Matías. You must be Feli.”

“How—”

I nudge him. “We talked.”

“Oh.”

Toni nuzzles Feli. Feli doesn’t seem bothered by that, but the big white wolf still scares him.

Toni’s mom reaches toward Feli with her nose and sniffs at him. “There’s nothing to be scared of.”

She takes a step and licks his ear. Feli whines a little, and he looks to me for direction. I wrap my tail protectively around Feli’s little shoulders in response. “She won’t hurt you. She’s a healer.”

“Here, let me fix that.” She reaches out and licks at his shoulder, and pulls the empty dart out. She throws it generally away from us, then licks at his shoulder. He’s still tense, but he lets her touch him.

The wound heals. She pulls back. “There you go.”

Feli’s fur falls flat. He wags his tail shyly, then glances at me. I wag my tail, too, and I lick reassuringly at his ear. “It’s okay.”

Matías nuzzles Feli a little and wags his tail. “There’s nothing to be scared of. We won’t let anybody hurt you. You’re safe with us.”

Feli relaxes and wags his tail. Matías has a natural charm that Feli falls right for.

I wag my tail a little and turn to Toni. Toni nods, then nudges his mom. “Mamá.”

She licks another time at Feli’s ear, then pulls back and moves around to me. “Lead the way, son.”

I shift back to human, so she does too. I dust myself off a bit, glance back at Feli to make sure he’s okay—he’s playing with Matías and Andrés, which is good—and slip from the park.

Toni’s mom falls into step with me. Just her step clears the path of people for us. She’s not much taller than me, but she has  _ presence. _ She has a swagger to her step. She has confidence. She looks like she knows what she’s doing.

Finally we reach where Hayden often waits. Sure enough, there he is, laughing with his five friends.

I point. “Them.”

She follows my finger, and she bristles a little. “Five of them?”

“I never said he fought fair.”

She takes my hand and drags me over to them. “Oi.”

I try to pull away; I didn’t sign up to stand up to them myself. “No, don’t—”

Hayden turns. I whine under my breath in protest, and I try to pull away. But she’s stronger than I am, and she doesn’t let me.

Hayden smirks. “I was wondering when you’d pop up.”

I flinch back. “Please,” I insist breathlessly, tugging on her iron grip on my hand.

She still doesn’t let go. “So you’re Hayden.”

Hayden laughs. “I am. Do I know you?”

“No. But he does.”

She nods to me. Hayden bristles a little. “Sure, we’re friends. What of it?”

I flinch and whine a little. Toni’s mom wraps an arm around my shoulders. “It’s rather funny you call abuse  _ friendship _ .”

Hayden’s eyes narrow and turn to me. “You—”

I shake my head quickly several times. “No.”

“You told.”

Tears of desperation begin to find their way from my eyes. I’m panicking.  _ I can’t let this happen; I can’t let him hurt Feli! _

Toni’s mom snarls at him. It’s low and it’s ticked off. “You shouldn’t’ve fucked with him. Or threatened his little brother.”

I shake my head a few times. “Please. Please.”

_ Please let go. _

I don’t finish. A leaden fist connects with my jaw, driving me back several steps.

I hit the ground. I don’t even try to fight; I don’t have to. This is her part.

Cuffs appear on the boys with a flash. She smiles sweetly at Hayden. “You  _ really _ shouldn’t’ve done that, honey.”

My jaw heals itself. I get slowly back to my feet, but I don’t dare come closer. “This is dangerous.”

“I heard,” she agrees.

I close my eyes. “Please.”

She glances back at me and realizes I’m crying. She snarls a little, then snaps her fingers. The boys disappear, then she comes back to my side.

She scoops me up, then she snaps her fingers again. We reappear in the police station with a rather dazed Hayden, and a rather startled police captain.

Toni’s mom curtsies at the man. “Mister Foreman. I apologize for the sudden surprise, but these boys have been abusing this child for years.”

She nods to me. “I figured we ought to do something about it.”

The man relaxes. “Sofía! It’s nice to see you again, Miss Carriedo. We’ll get these kids locked up.”

_ Carriedo? So Toni’s last name is Carriedo? _

He drags Hayden and his friends one by one into jail cells, then seals the door to the jail cells and returns to us. “Now. Let’s see.”

He picks up a couple witness report forms. “Here you go. Fill these out.”

Sofía Carriedo accepts the forms easily and flashes a charming smile. “Of course.”

She pulls me over and sits down with me, and hands me one with a pen. “Here. Just get it down, and you won’t have to deal with this again.”

My body is trembling like an earthquake, but I do what I’m told. If not for me, but for Feli.

She picks up the other papers and snaps her fingers. They disappear, then reappear signed and completed by Toni and his brothers. She makes her own, then sets them down on the desk before the man. “Here you go. May we be off? I think this kid deserves a bit of a break.”

“Of course,” he agrees.

Sofía Carriedo takes my hand, and with a flash we’re back with Toni and Feli and the boys.

I shift down and trot over to Feli. “Fratellino.”

Feli turns, then leaps at me and covers me with kisses. “You’re crying.”

I just let him. “I know.”

Toni trots over to his mom and looks her over. She wags her tail at him. “I’m fine. He’s not. Hayden punched him and he fell apart. I think he panicked.”

Toni wags his tail in response, then comes over to me. “Lovi?”

My body melts back to its human form, and God help me I can’t stop crying. I’m on my knees collapsed in a heap of defeat and I can’t stop for the life of me. Toni shifts back and wraps his arms around me, and Feli shifts back and throws himself at me. “Lovi.”

I lean into Toni and wrap my arms around my brother, closing tight fists on his shirt. “We need to talk to Sebastian. I think…I think it’s time he knew the truth.”

Feli nods a few times. “Okay.”

Toni tightens his grip and mutters an apology. I shake my head. “Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. I just—I’m scared. He kept bragging about breaking out of jail and if—this is dangerous.”

Feli tightens his grip on me. “He won’t hurt us. Matías won’t let that happen.”

“I won’t let that happen either,” Toni adds quietly.

I shut my eyes. “Sure you won’t. Everyone leaves in the end.”

Silence greets me. Feli starts to cry, and Toni gives me this blank, hurt look. “Lovi…”

I shake my head. “Don’t.”

I jerk my head at Feli while he’s not looking. “Not here.”

Toni looks uncertainly to Feli, then back to me, then uncertainly to Matías. “Matí?”

Matías trots over. “Sí?”

Toni jerks his head at Feli. “He’s crying. He seems to trust you.”

Matías shifts back, wraps my brother up in gentle arms, and plants little kisses on his cheek. Feli curls up against him and whines. Toni shifts down, jerks his head, and trots up the path.

I sigh, shift, and follow him. “Where are you going?”

“Away.”

“That’s not an answer, Toni.”

He leads the way up to a waterfall I didn’t know existed, and he sits on the ledge above the waterfall’s pool. Shifter pups play in and around the pool. “This is where I go when I wanna be alone,” he tells me.

He wags his tail. “Most people don’t know it exists. It’s also soundproof to the rest of the forest, so no matter what you say or do no one will hear you.”

I flick my tail and sit down a foot or so away. “Why here?”

He turns to me. “Feli doesn’t know anything, does he?”

I shake my head. He shrugs. “He can’t hear us from here.”

_ Oh. _

He coughs, then takes the few steps to cross the distance between us. Then he sits again, an inch from me. “Tell me.”

“What?”

His tail flicks. “Who hurt you? Who turned on you? Who abandoned you? Why?”

“Oh.”

I shift uneasily. Toni licks at my ear reassuringly. “Please.”

I close my eyes, breathe, then fall. My head folds down on my paws, and Toni lays down in front of me and licks at my nose.

I sigh, breathe, and lift my ears. I can’t hear anything except Toni’s breathing. I can’t even hear Feli’s crying from here.

My ears fall, and I sigh. I guess I could tell. “It started when I was four.”


	4. Shifter Pups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that an exchange has been made, Lovi and Toni descend to greet the pups...and again, Lovi gets more than he bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggered Lovi. Brief abuse mention.

Now that I’ve spilled, Toni tells me about himself. He talks about Spain, about what happened with Jesús and his brothers, about his mom, about his dad’s abuse…he tells me everything. He doesn’t hold back. He’s open and honest in return, and it means the world to someone like me.

Finally both of us are done talking. I understand him so much better now, and his tail is draped protectively over my back. Then his head lifts from his paws, and he flicks an ear. “I could introduce you to everyone if you like.”

“Ew.”

He laughs. “What about just the babies?”

“…Maybe.”

“Okay. Follow me.”

He leads the way down into the waterfall pool. Pups are everywhere, and Toni wags his tail like the sweet child he is. He barks once. “Everyone! We have a newcomer.”

They turn and come tumbling head-over-heels to say hi. My tail wags low to the ground, and their tails wag furiously in response. “Hi!”

One of the pups stays back and peeks curiously over the crowd. My eyes are drawn to him, and for the life of me I can’t look away.

Toni chats excitedly with the kids. The little one gets left out again, and I notice he’s smaller than the others: a runt. He’s shy and he hangs back, wagging his tail low to the ground and turning to leave because he keeps getting left out.

“Hey,” I stop him, speaking up for the first time. “Wait.”

He turns back. I trot up to him and wag my tail. “Are you okay?”

His eyes widen as he realize he  _ is _ , indeed, being acknowledged. His mouth falls open a bit and he stares blankly at me. “U-u-u-um,” he stammers.

I wag my tail reassuringly. “I don’t bite.”

His tail wags low to the ground. He lets me lick his ear. He glances at the others, then back to me.

I shrug. “I’m a bit of an outcast myself, honestly. I’ve been bullied most of my life, and I’m fifteen. I barely made it this far. I’m here because my little brother needs me.”

His tail wags, just a little faster and a little higher. He rubs his side against me and licks my shoulder. “I’m five,” he says, “but because I’m smaller than everyone else they just shunt me aside and pretend I don’t exist.”

I lick his ear a few times. He makes a faint sound of contentment, which is kinda what I was going for. The happier he is, the better. I think Feli would like him.

“I think my brother would like you,” I tell him. “He’s thirteen and his name’s Feli. He’s new, too. He might just adopt you, honestly.”

His tail wags furiously. “People don’t like me.”

“Me either,” I agree with a brief laugh. “Toni’s shattered that rule for some reason. I just met him an hour or so ago. I’ve met a ton of people, and none of them like me.”

His tail wags again, and he nuzzles against my side. “ _ I _ like you,” he says.

I laugh, and I lick at his ear. “I like you, too. They shouldn’t ignore you.”

One of the big pups trots over—at a glance, my guess is he’s a teenager—and growls at the little one. “You can’t hog the newcomer all to yourself, Valentino.”

Val whines, and his ears go flat. I wrap a protective tail around his shoulders and snarl. “Don’t talk to him like that.”

The big pup looks taken aback, but he’s not phased. “I can talk to him however I want to,” he snaps back.

If it was possible to ‘ _ trigger _ ’ me or whatever, he just did. This time, my growl isn’t just a warning. It gets everyone’s attention, and my eyes go bright honey gold. “No, you can’t. I’ve been bullied for most of my life, and I won’t let you do the same to him. You sound like Hayden, and Toni and I just put him in jail. Don’t  _ ever _ say that.”

His ears go flat. Val wags his tail low to the ground, having lost all his confidence again.

I take a threatening step forward. Through my teeth, the words snarl, “Leave him alone.”

The big pup immediately backs down, and his eyes go a dark honey brown. He runs off.

I step back, shake myself a little, and turn back to Val. “Anyway.”

Val starts to laugh-cry. “Nobody ever stands up for me,” he says shakily, and he leaps up to cover me in kisses. I let him knock me to the ground, and I wrap him up in my paws and lick him back.

For a minute, all is silent aside from Val’s laugh-crying. When he grows quiet, noise explodes. “A true alpha!” they chorus. “A true alpha!”

Toni trots over as we get back to our feet. “What was that all about?”

I lick at Toni’s ear reassuringly. “Big shot said he could talk to him however he wants. Hayden said the same about me. So I told him to fuck off.”

Toni sighs. I wrap a protective tail around the little guy. “It isn’t fair to let him get pushed around.”

Val wags his tail low to the ground. “I wasn’t trying to cause trouble,” he says. “I was going to leave.”

Toni, being the sweetheart he is, looks at Val and his shyness and just fucking melts. He sighs, wags his tail, and says, “You don’t have to leave.”

Val looks away. I lick at his ear again, and his eyes flash that bright icy blue Toni’s eyes shine.

Toni blinks a bit. The one who left had omega eyes, but the shy one has beta eyes. He’s naturally higher than the bully. No wonder he isn’t happy: the others are all ordering him around.

Toni tilts his head. “Beta,” he says.

Val cocks his little ears. Toni wags his tail. “You’re like me,” he says. “You’re a beta.”

Val wags his tail uncertainly. I lick his ear and snuggle him. “Breathe,” I remind him. “You like like you’re gonna pass out.”

He coughs once, but he naturally falls in line and starts to breathe normally again. I look uncertainly to Toni.

Toni laughs a little and wags his tail. “You’re doing fine, sweetheart. Just remember you need to breathe, too.”

I take a deep breath. Toni shrugs and trots back over to the pups.

I turn to the little one. “Val, right?”

He wags his tail and nods. I smile a little. “I’m Lovino; you can call me Lovi.”

He wags his tail again. I jerk my head. “Wanna go?”

He wags his tail rather than answering. I lead the way from the water hole and back up the path to my brother. Feli’s now calm and back in wolf form, and he wags his tail at my approach. “Lovi!” he says.

I wag my tail. Feli wags his tail in response. I lead Val up to him. “This is Val,” I tell him. “He’s an outcast and the others were pushing him around. He’s five.”

Feli wags his tail, bounds a playful circle around Val, and licks his ear a few times. “I’m Feli,” he says. “I’m thirteen.”

Val wags his tail, and he opens his mouth a little to pant in the heat of overhead sunlight. “Valentino,” he answers.

Feli wags his tail furiously, so excited he tumbles over his own paws when he tries to run another circle. Val relaxes now that he’s away from the bullying pups, and he leans a little on my forepaw. He watches Feli run around. He wags his tail and watches.

Feli finally stops running. He tumbles up to his feet and wags his tail. “This is fun,” he tells me.

I laugh a little. “I’ve already been over an hour. I’ve adjusted.”

Val sits down and leans into me. I sit down and wrap a gentle tail around him. “We should keep him,” I tell Feli. “He deserves some love and attention.”

Feli wags his tail and licks Val’s ear. “We’d need Sebastian to do that because he’s over eighteen. And over twenty-one.”

“I know,” I agree. “But we need him anyway.”

“True.”

“Who’s Sebastian?” Val asks shyly.

I wag my tail. “Big brother. He’s a lawyer. He pays for our house and cares for us.”

“Oh.”

“I think he’d like you,” Feli says. “He’s twenty-five.”

Val wags his tail nervously. “Most people don’t like me.”

Feli’s tail falls. He looks sad for a second. Then he gathers his resolve. “Well, that’s going to change. You deserve better.”

Val gets all shy and looks away. Feli licks his ear and nuzzles him. “Don’t worry,” he says. “No one is going to hurt you. Not again.”

Feli looks straight at me. “We need to talk,” he says stiffly, “about Hayden.”

I sigh and look away. “What is there to talk about?”

Feli growls. I flinch. Val looks between us a few times.

Toni’s mom comes around the corner, and she wags her tail. “Lovino. You’re back.”

“This is Val,” I tell her. “He’s really shy and the others were bullying him because he’s small.”

That’s enough; she trots up, licks his ear, and leads him up the path to Toni’s brothers. I can now focus on Feli.

I turn and take a few steps in his direction. My tail lowers. “What is there to talk about?”

“The fact that he beat you up and raped you and you never told us.”

_ Damn. They told him. _ I collapse to the ground and drop my head on my paws. Feli starts crying when I don’t immediately deny it.

I breathe and lift my head. “I’m sorry.”

Feli doesn’t calm down. He growls his frustration, bites my foreleg hard enough to draw blood, and runs off. I get up and chase him until he finally stops running. He bites me again, but this time it’s my shoulder. It heals, and I tackle him to the ground before he can run again. “Wait. Please hear me out.”

Feli starts crying again, but he goes limp. I breathe and fall to the ground. “I would’ve told you.”

He shakes his head. I lift a paw. “Please let me finish.”

He growls. I whine and lick his ear. “Look, Hayden told me he’d kill you if I told. That’s the truth. I would’ve said something, but I didn’t want to risk him actually trying. I’m sorry it got this far, and I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”

I release him and lie down. “Do whatever you want to me. It doesn’t change the past, it doesn’t change Hayden, and you can’t make me feel any worse than I already do.”

Feli whines. I close my eyes. “I love you, Feli, and though it may not seem like it sometimes  _ you matter more to me  _ than whatever damage Hayden can do. You matter more to me than anything. I already would’ve let Hayden kill me or done it myself if I didn’t love you. I’m still alive because I care about you. There’s literally nothing you can say or do to make me feel worse.”

Feli gets to his feet and stares at me. I don’t move, not when he pokes me or when he whines. “Lovi,” he whines, licking my ear.

“I know I have issues,” I acknowledge, dragging my leaden body to its paws, “and I need help. I need Sebastian to help me as much as I need him to stop Hayden from getting out and actually hurting you. The only two things I know without a doubt are that I love you and I don’t want him to hurt you.”

Feli lunges for me. We both shift back, and he holds on so tightly it hurts. His fingers find the scars, and he just keeps crying. I shut my eyes and hold him, and I wait him out.


	5. The Call From Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian gets an unexpected call from home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some cussing, I guess...not too much that's triggering (that hasn't already been touched on).

**_~Sebastian~_ **

It’s Feli. He rarely calls nowadays; he’ll often text that he’s out with friends and Lovi’s at home, little things. If he’s calling…

I glance towards the door. I have ten minutes until the next person gets here; the last client left early, because his case was simple and I didn’t need long to listen and get everything put together and set up a time for court trial.

I scoop up my cell, slide the green phone all the way over, and press the black phone to my ear. “You don’t normally call me at work, tesoro. What’s wrong?”

“Lovi,” Feli says, and it sounds like he’s crying. “Lovi is.”

“What about him? I have ten minutes until my next client gets here.”

“I’m sorry, but this is important,” Feli says. He breathes shakily. “Lovi’s arms are covered in self-harm scars. Also he’s been getting the shit beat of out him and getting raped because he’s gay and trans, and this dickwad from school told him he’d kill me if Lovi told anyone, especially you. His name is Hayden Fisher. He’s in the local jail at the moment but he’ll get out in forty-eight hours if we can’t put a case together. Lovi says if he gets out he’ll kill me—and he also said he’s a mess and he needs you. He’s got some friends now, people who will protect him, but we need you.”

He drags in a breath. “He didn’t outright say it, but he practically admitted that if it weren’t for you and me he would’ve killed himself after enough of this. He would’ve let himself die. This has been going on for almost seven years—it took Hayden two weeks to get Lovi talking.”

My muscles are tense and I set the phone down and put him on speakerphone. I pull up a new file and start quietly typing. “Is he physically okay, at least? Other than the scars?”

“I don’t know. He’s still crying.”

“Lovi’s crying?”

“Yeah. Um, Lovi?”

He gets a mumbled answer. He clears his throat. “Are you okay?”

“No” is all I hear.

Feli breathes. “Uh…wanna talk to Seb? He’s got a couple minutes.”

I’m guessing Lovi nods. The phone changes hands, and Lovi quietly shoos Feli away. Feli runs.

“Hey,” Lovi greets me hoarsely.

“Hey. You said you were okay last time we talked.”

“He said he’d rape him too if I told you. Specifically if it was you, because he knew you wouldn’t let that slide.”

I cough a bit. I note that down quickly, to get it over with mostly. “Fucking hell, Lovi, you know I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“I didn’t wanna take that risk,” Lovi mutters. “Besides, it’s not like I died or anything.”

“Lovi!” I protest. “That’s not the determinant of being okay!”

He sort of laughs. “Just saying it coulda been worse. Yeah, I admit it was bad. I get that, and I’m not denying it. I just—”

He sighs. I finish a line and hit  _ enter _ . “Just what?”

“I’m scared of him,” he tells me, breathless and quiet as if that’ll make it easier to say. “And I’m scared of losing you guys. Fear makes you do stupid things, as does love. It’s not just anger that makes you irrational and desperate.”

“I never said it was,” I allow, “but that doesn’t mean you sacrifice your own well-being for his. You can already tell just how much he hates that.”

“I know, I know,” he agrees reluctantly. “I know that. I’m aware.”

There’s a faint howling in the distance. Lovi breathes, and there’s a nearby bark. “Um…ignore the dogs. I’m outside.”

“Ah,” I dismiss. But something about his tone when he says  _ dogs _ makes me wonder.

“You’re a dog,” someone says.

Lovi laughs. “Hush. I’m on the phone.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Mom just wanted me to stick nearby and make sure you were okay. Feli’s sort of hiding with Matías and crying.”

“Who’s Matías?” I ask him.

Lovi sighs. “Whatever,” he answer the other person. “Just shut up.”

He turns back to me. “Uh…friend’s brother. Feli trusts him—natural charm I guess.”

“Ah. Is he okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Is Feli?”

“I think Feli will be fine,” Lovi says, but his voice trembles with faint uncertainty. “The main thing is just time to process. Other than that he needs you—almost as badly as I do.”

“Yeah, he seemed to indicate you really need help.”

“I do, and I’m aware of that. I have a lot of issues. I’m working on it. I don’t want to drag you away from anything too important, so just…finish up everything you’re working on first.”

“I kinda figured you’d say that,” I say. “I have a couple cases to finish up tomorrow morning, but after that I’m done. I should be there after that. Just stick close to Feli and your friends, and don’t do anything stupid. Promise me that.”

“I promise,” Lovi mutters.

“And don’t let Feli do anything stupid either; you know how he gets when he’s emotional.”

“Yeah. I think I know how to make him feel okay again—or, more, who can make him feel okay again. I just need to be fucking careful because his dad would kill me.”

“What?”

“It’s a long story; I’ll explain when you get here. Just be careful.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I will. And you damn well better, Lovi, because you’re scaring the hell out of me right now.”

Lovi grumbles a bit. “I’m sorry. I’m trying not to.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.”

Lovi weird-laughs again. “Yeah, whatever.”

“I love you.”

“We love you too.”

He hangs up the phone. I finish typing up the outline of the case, some pointers, the basics, the timeline. It’s getting difficult to keep a clear head.

There’s a knock at the door. “Mister Vargas, sir, Señor Alejandro Carriedo is here to see you!”

I breathe, open a new case tab so he won’t see that one (it’s too personal to let just anyone glimpse), then answer, “Send him in!”


	6. Alejandro Carriedo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni reflects briefly on Spain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief touch on/hint at abuse.

**_~Toni~_ **

My cousin Alejandro, now thirty-seven, used to tell his dad (Uncle Fernández) off from bullying me at home. I haven’t heard from him since we moved here, nor have I heard from him since a couple days before we left when I told him Dad wanted to leave. He grew distant in those couple days.

I wonder where he is now. I wonder how he’s doing. I wonder if Uncle Fernández started hurting him after I left. I wonder…


	7. Señor Alejandro Carriedo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian deals with the case for Alejandro Carriedo, and comes to a surprising conclusion about who he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just sort of happened. I'll find out how this becomes important later.
> 
> Idea...should Alejandro be a hunter? And then he finds out about how Toni (& all his brothers & his parents) is a shifter and he's just so confused about what to do? Give me some feedback in the comments!

**_~Sebastian~_ **

“What’s the name of the kid you’re trying to protect?”

“Antonio Fernández Carriedo—most people know him as Toni.”

_ Toni. Feli texted me about Lovi making friends with a seventeen-year-old who went by that name. I wonder… _

“Seventeen year old?” I ask.

He blinks, pauses to think. “Yeah, he’d be seventeen now. How’d you know that?”

I laugh a little. “My little brother Lovi is friends with him. He was texting about him.”

“Oh. Really?”

I nod. “He says that was the first person to treat him like a person and not another face in the crowd. He’s started getting him to feel okay again.”

“Yeah, that’s Toni for ya,” he chuckles. “He picks out the loners and clings to ’em. He says they make the most loyal friends, and he’s scared of being abandoned.”

“That’s a pretty valid reason, and true too,” I agree. “So you want a restraining order?”

“Yeah. He was pretty horrible, and that’s without Toni telling me everything.”

“Damn. Yeah, I’ll have to look into that and see what I can do. Who knows, maybe we can get you to him and you can see how he’s doing.”

He lights up. “You’d do that?”

“Yeah. I know how it feels to worry; Lovi’s going through some hell right now.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, “life is hell sometimes.”

I laugh, and he laughs too. It feels good to laugh in the face of everything I’m going to be dealing with once I get home: a shattered Feli, a broken Lovi, and a madman who belongs behind bars in a closed ward someplace far from my brothers. I have all the evidence to put him there, and they’d be preparing for jail time. They don’t stand a chance.


End file.
